Guy last week dropped the words “Liberal leader” from his Facebook profile. It’s the second change in as many months after language on his page changed from “Victorian Liberal leader Matthew Guy” to “Victorian Liberal leader Matt Guy” in August.
Liberal candidates,particularly those facing challenges from progressive independent candidates backed by Climate 200,have also removed references to the party in their election material.
David Southwick’s evolving brand.
Deputy leader David Southwick,who faces a teal and Labor threat in his inner-eastern seat of Caulfield,has omitted the Liberal logo from signage. “We’re backing David to make Caulfield better together,” his material reads.
When questioned about the omission on Monday,Southwick said he was running a “community focused campaign”.
“Caulfield is surrounded in blue ... I don’t think there is an issue there. If you look at what our signage and materials are about,it’s not just about me. We are running a very different campaign and all my corflutes have real people on them because it’s about a community coming together.”
He said other material being delivered to homes in the electorate would include a Liberal logo.
There is no Liberal Party logo on this Brad Rowswell electronic poster.
In the nearby seat of Sandringham,an electronic sign promoting Liberal MP Brad Rowswell does not include reference to the Liberal Party. It features his family under the headline “serving our local community”. Rowswell’s other campaign material includes a party logo.
In Bentleigh,candidate Debbie Taylor-Haynes has also ditched the logo,favouring a blue sign with the line “a new voice for Bentleigh”.
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A Liberal Party internalreview of its 2018 election loss found the negative image of the party’s federal brand had an important effect on the Victorian branch’s primary vote.
Party research found 30 per cent of voters in seats lost to Labor – which included Hawthorn,Ringwood and Box Hill – said they could not vote Liberal because of the removal of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull by Scott Morrison,which occurred three months before the poll.
“Because of the lack of definition of Matthew Guy and the Liberal team,the turmoil and instability of 2018 at a federal level had a greater impact than it would have had with a well-known state leader,” the party review found.
The Coalition’s primary vote in Victoria is 30 per cent,according to the latestResolve Political Monitor survey,compared with Labor’s 40 per cent.
Dutton,as many new opposition leaders before him,trails prime minister Anthony Albanese by a large margin of 53 per cent to 18 as preferred prime minister. His office was contacted for comment.
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